The Japanese Servant

One day an Indian went to Japan. The Indian was a very rich big shot and he had many servants. The servants were all bad. They never pleased him and he was really disgusted with them. When he saw how polite the Japanese were, he hired a Japanese man to be one of his servants. The Japanese servant pleased him very much.

Every day the Indian would get up at ten o'clock. One day he had something very important that he had to do early in the morning. So he said to his Japanese servant, “Please, tomorrow wake me up at six o'clock in the morning. I am telling you this because I know that you will not make any noise. You always do things so quietly, politely and nicely. You never show off. I have so many servants, but you are the one whom I am asking to wake me up early in the morning. But be sure not to make any noise and don’t disturb my sleep!

So what did the Japanese servant do early in the morning?

D: Put him in the car and drove him to the office while he was sleeping.

M: Didn’t wake him up — let him oversleep.

Sri Chinmoy: I said that the Japanese servant was so polite and quiet. The boss said he could not make any noise. How would he do the needful at six o'clock?

K: Wake him up and then tiptoe out?

Sri Chinmoy: I have told you about all the good qualities of the Japanese. So this was what the Japanese servant did. At six o'clock on tiptoe he went into the room and very nicely on a piece of paper he wrote down, “It is six o'clock, Sir. Please get up.” Then he put the paper on the pillow underneath his master’s head. He said to himself, “If he touches the piece of paper, the message that it is six o'clock will pass through his brain. So immediately he will get up.”

Unfortunately, the message did not register. The Indian big shot got up at eleven o'clock!